How To Get Your Business To Show Up On The Map In Google

Here are the first steps you need to take to help get your business to show up on the map in the Google search engine results.

Hi, I’m Don Seckler, I’m the CEO of Peak Inbound Marketing. We’re a digital marketing agency that helps companies get more business from their websites. And we’re doing these videos to help business owners understand and also execute some strategies that will help you get more visible online and in search engines.

So today we’re talking about how to get on the map in Google. And the first thing that you should know is that it is very, very challenging to get on the Google map today, because Google is now only listing three businesses on the map, so you only have three slots and there’s a lot of competition, there’s a lot of people vying for those slots. So it is a challenge. So you have to be aware of that going in. But there are a few things that you can do that will get you started on the right foot. They’re not gonna guarantee that you’re gonna get in the map, but you have to do these things before you can get in the map.

So here’s what we wanna do. We wanna claim your Google My Business listing and then we wanna optimize it. So gonna go to google.com/business, super easy. In the upper right-hand corner of the site there’s a big green button that says ‘Start now’. You gonna click that and you’re gonna type in name of your company, your address, your phone number, and then Google will search and see if your company is already in their database and showing up on the maps.

If it is and you have not verified your business, you wanna click on the option to, you know, “Is this your business?” They’ll say yes, you can say “Yes”. And then you’ll get the option to verify that business. So they want you to prove that it’s really you, that you’re a real business and that you really have a physical presence. So they’re gonna do that a couple of different ways. They can call you and you’ll get a recorded call with a code, I think it’s six digits. And you write that down, then you’re gonna go back to Google My Business or google.com/business, and you’re going to enter that code in. They could text you the code. So again, you have to have a phone number that your business where you can answer it and make sure that you record that code. Or they’re gonna go old school, and you could ask them to send you a post card, and they’ll mail it to the address. And so again, you have to be able to retrieve that post card, get that code and put it into Google My Business.

Now when it comes to optimizing your Google My Business listing, you wanna make sure you fill everything out. There’s key things, you’re gotta have your address, including your street, the name of the business, the zip code. You wanna have your phone number in there. You also wanna put your hours in, don’t ignore that slot. You wanna fill out those hours. And then you also wanna add some photos. Ideally, they should be of the interior and the exterior of your business. You could throw a logo in there, so there’s a few options. But you wanna add probably five to ten photos into that listing to optimize it. Okay, and then once you do that, you have a much better shot of showing in the map on the search results, but you will definitely have a presence on Google and on Google Maps. And you will have a presence that lets Google know that you are available for searches that are relative to your area. If you’re in New Jersey and someone searches for divorce lawyer in New Jersey, this is one way you will let Google know, “Okay, here’s where we are. Here’s where our business is”, they can return your business for some of those prized queries. Okay? So again, subscribe, and we’ll see you next time with some more tips for your business. Thanks.